When it comes to setting business goals, it’s not just about the dollars or bottom line. As an entrepreneur, there are some different types of goals that we should be setting for ourselves and our business. If you’re struggling to plan your monthly, quarterly, and yearly business goals, this post is here to help you.

Why Goal Planning is Important

There are so many reasons why goal setting and goal planning are important. We can’t know what we are working towards and being strategic if we don’t have goals set. Goals give us something to work towards and achieve. Many of us set monetary goals and call it a day, but there is so much more to goal setting than just money.

Types of Business Goals to Set

1) Accomplishment Goals

The most important type of goal to set as an entrepreneur is an accomplishment goal. What do you want to accomplish each month, each quarter, and each year? Mapping out these goals allows you to create a strategic business plan and better plan your time. (And we can reverse engineer an action plan to achieve those goals.)

Here’s an example:

Next month, my goal is to enroll 5 new students into my course. Knowing this allows me to work backward and figure out what I need to do to make that happen. Do I need to create a flash sale? Do I need to improve my marketing and create more strategic content? Do I need to reach out to past leads who didn’t purchase? Do I need to create a new lead magnet? Should I run Facebook ads?

Another monthly accomplishment goal might be around creation. For example, I want to create a new digital product next month. What do I need to do this month to make that happen? Maybe I need to do market research, competitor research, and brainstorm the digital product content.

2) Personal Goals

As entrepreneurs, we should always be focused on growing and learning. What do I want to accomplish personally next month or next quarter? Maybe I want to learn more about sales funnels, crafting the perfect Pinterest Ads strategy, or perhaps I want to find 5 new podcasts to binge listen to or a new book to read.

These goals aren’t business movers right away, but they help you move forward and improve your overall skills. We can’t just focus on business and the bottom line.

3) Monetary Goals

Finally, we have the most common goal type for entrepreneurs, the monetary goal. We should have monetary goals around launches, products, or monthly income, to measure our results. Even better, we might want to set some non-monetary but growth-related goals, such as:

• New email subscribers
• New podcast listeners
• Engaged followers on Instagram
• Pinterest Monthly Views
• New members in our free Facebook group

Not just focusing on the dollars but the audience, impact, and growth will help you make better decisions when it comes to what to focus on, what’s working, and what’s not working.